For clarity, the attached screenshot shows 3 copies (Shift-d) of identical plane/curve pairs. Red axis is ‘X’, green is ‘Y’.
The middle plane is in edit mode to show how the planes are subdivided. (actually loop cut).
The bottom plane has the curve modifier effect made visible.
I would like the plane to follow the shape of the curve in ‘Y’, which it is more or less doing, but I do NOT want the variable scaling in the ‘X’ direction (the entire deformed plane is smaller in ‘x’ and particularly smaller at the lead in and exit from the curve.
Why is the plane being scaled in ‘X’ as it approaches, follows, and exits the curve? What would be the best way to achieve what I want while leveraging the power of curves or paths.
Have you Ctrl-A applied Scale before using Curve on Plane?
Did you know that Bsurfaces addon allows for skinning Curves? Add Solidify after and done. http://vimeo.com/26339130 at 10:22
I had not applied scale to the plane, so I removed the curve modifier, applied the scale, and re-added the curve modifier, but that didn’t seem to have any effect. Based on further reading, I think the scaling in the x direction is due to the apparent fact that the curve modifier scales in ALL directions in proportion to the distance from the curve. Same things happens in z if the plane is moved upwards. I think this also explains why the plane seems to turn inside out sometimes.
However, I think I will abandon my approach and use the Bsurfaces addon. I have never explored that addon, but it looks absolutely amazing and I’m sure will do what I’m after and much more. Looks like you can still use the grease pencil, which is a must for me. Thank you very much for pointing me to it and for the link to the demo video!!
I think the scaling in the x direction is due to the apparent fact that the curve modifier scales in ALL directions in proportion to the distance from the curve.
No it doesn’t if used correctly. In your screenshot the plane does not positioned on the curve which indicates you have not positioned it correctly.
Thanks Richard. It certainly seems to work for you. I’ve tried several variations trying to get the plane positioned on the curve. Maybe I don’t know what that actually means. I finally moved the origin of the curve to one of its endpoints, and made the origin of the plane at the midpoint of the left top edge. Then I made the curve and plane origins coincident.
In the attached, I have added the curve modifier but not made it visible so that you can see the initial origins etc. For some reason, I had to check “-y” for the axis to get it to sort of work. After making the modifier visible, you have to translate the plane along y to get it to follow the curve, but the scaling problem is still there.
If it makes any difference, the plane is not really a plane but a scaled default cube with some additional loopcuts and scale applied. The curve derives from a grease pencil converted to path (not bezier), but then the path order is set to 3, sort of emulating a bezier.
In the Curve / Shape settings turn off the ‘Radius’ tickbox or select all the points and Spacebar / search for radius, select Set Curve Radius and set it to 1
